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Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyD123

is 1/4” wider than the string spacing at the nut, which allows about an 1/8” of fret board outside of the E strings.

This is the sweet spot for me on the guitars that I play regularly. I know that folks who wrap their thumb sometimes like the low E closer to the edge of the board but my left hand won't tolerate that technique.

around 2 mm is fine. I got use to even closer back in the 70's 80's when the MIJ's around at the time were a little crowded at the nut and I use to get a new nut cut with wider spacing. Once your use to it the E's never fall off the edge.

interesting how the modern thinking is to keep the E strings fairly inboard, The string spacing on some 1 3/4 boards is hardly wider than many 1 11/16 boards

Would this 1/4" be 1/8" from the edge of the string to the start of the fret bevel, then another 1/8" from the start of the fret bevel to the side of the fretboard?

It the question in regards to a specific guitar you have where your finger slips off and you are considering making a new nut for it? If so, try sliding the nut a fraction one direction or the other to see what it takes to eliminate the problem. If neither side causes the finger to slip off then great. If fixing one side causes problems on the other side you can use the info you got about making a new nut.

I like 3/16 on the e side and 1/16 on the E side. I can play melodies, fingerstyle, cleaner with more space and the big string almost never slips off, super rare. If Im cognizant of it I could say never but I usually just let the bass string do what they do and I focus on the melody.

is 1/4” wider than the string spacing at the nut, which allows about an 1/8” of fret board outside of the E strings.

This has been my experience too, with a 1-3/4" nut. So, the string spacing on a 1-3/4" nut is 1-1/2" (measured from the outsides of the strings). However, on my Taylor and on both of my Martins with 1-11/16" nut widths, the string spacing at the nut is 1-15/32" (1/32" more than it should be using this guideline, and just 1/32" less than it would be on a 1-3/4" nut).

It's not too expensive to have a Guitar Tech experiment by cutting a nut or two for you, made of plastic. When you've found the perfect spacing have a bone or other nut made to those specs. I have about 1 mm between my high e string and the edge. It's very rare that I pull it off the neck, and I play fingerstyle, strumming, jazz and blues on it, aggressively.